My Creative Scrapbook Supplies

New to scrapbooking? Then you'll probably need a lot of fresh ideas about how to get started with scrapbooking. It's important to know that you don't need any special skills to make a great scrapbook. Don't be intimidated by those fancy schmancy scrapbooking magazines that display scrapbooks that look like they took 12 years to put together. Pretty much all you need is the desire to put all your special memories into a special scrapbook that you put together with your own personality and flair!

Picking out scrapbooking supplies your very first time can be pretty intimidating and overwhelming when you see all the options you have available to you! It's important to learn a little bit about scrapbooking before you walk into your first store and also to ave an idea about what your first scrapbooking project is going to be and what you'll need to get it started. Some basic scrapbooking supplies and your game plan are all you'll need to hit the ground running.

Some Ideas For Beginners

What kind of scrapbook do you want to start out with? The fact that you're a beginner doesn't in the least diminish the amount of possibilities for you. Below are some ideas to get your mental juices flowing

• Are there some photos that you want to scrapbook? Think up of a good theme for those photos and then build the scrapbook around the photos. You can make an open-ended "vacation" scrapbook or you can make an individual scrapbook for each vacation.
• You can go with a very simple chronological scrapbook and just go by the dates of the photos. A life progression type of scrapbook if you will... or again you can go chronological and single out certain aspects fo your life. One of my friends made a scrapbook about all the hikes he had been on...
• Most scrapbooks are made around some type of event... an all timer favorite is the wedding scrapbook. Another favorite is again the vacation scrapbook. Some folks like to create baby scrapbooks for their newborn children.
• I've seen scrapbooks about pets, recipes, soccer seasons and a summer at the beach. The possibilities really are endless.

Scrapbooking Supplies

It's important to note that scrapbooking supplies don't have to be expensive... that's actually one of the great things about scrapbooking is how easy and inexpensive it is to get started. The first thing you need is a scrapbooking album. Scrapbooking albums come in all kinds of shapes and sizes but the two most popular sizes are the standard 8 1/2 x 11" and the boxier 12 x 12". Some folks also like to go with the 11 x 14" when they have large photos or when they need more space to express themselves.

Aside from a scrapbooking album you'll need a sharp pair of scissors to cut with or an Xacto knife. Personally I prefer to use a straight edge paper trimmer as they are a lot neater but a pair of scissors will always be needed with scrapbooking so make sure to buy yourself a nice ergonomic and comfortable  pair.

Other supplies you may need to get started are adhesives and glues. A good non-toxic glue is a must and I also like to have double-sided tape and some glue dots laying around for sticking stuff onto the scrapbook.

Finally there is paper. Paper is cheap and you can do a whole lot with paper if you're the least bit creative so if anything splurge on the paper because paper can be used to make embellishments, create borders and you can tear it to add texture to your pages.